i'm a bit of an introvert and i think dd1 is, too somewhat, but she does enjoy being around other kids. i just can't do something everyday after school, though. we do one dance class throughout the year and i've just signed us up for a yoga class, too. we usually try to have a playdate with one particular good friend (they aren't in school together anymore) once a week, too. i'm trying to maybe do another playdate in there, too, but feel my energy flagging. dd2 (who's not in school) has dance class, too, and we've picked up various short term classes here and there, but she doesn't do too many playdates yet. she would definitely want me to stay if we did. i usually stay at dd1's good friend's, too, because the mom and i are friends and have a little tea and chat. she will stay there w/o me, though. she'd be nervous about another drop-off, though, so the activites/playdates mostly involve me, too!

i know there are homeschoolers on here, too, and i couldn't quite figure out how to word the poll to make it more inclusive so please forgive me, but pick whichever suits you best. i would go with activities outside your normal homeschool day -- so if you usually do homeschool co-op classes then i wouldn't include that, but if you have other activities or just other playdates then i'd count those. i'm sure you'll know how to figure it out the best. that probably doesn't even make sense, but maybe you can figure it out.

i'd probably stay home all day until i started biting the walls. i don't think it's good for me, but i only have a certain tolerance for sociability and yet i want more and i think dd1 is kinda like that, too. she really needs the down time, but wants to see friends and do stuff, too.

thanks for voting!

Mama to two girl beans, Feb 2001 and Nov 2003 . DH , and two crazy . Running on biodiesel since 2004!"All you fascists are bound to lose" — Woody Guthrie

Right now at age 4, DD does maybe one or two other activity a month outside of school and family stuff - mostly events for my mother's club. But she goes to school half days, so she gets a lot of that stuff, she doesn't seem interested in other activities and I'm not ready to go there yet myself.

I voted 2. From Sept-May they are in Brownies & Sparks which is 1 day a week. From Oct-Mar they are in Basketball which is 1 day a week. They take swimming during the summer months when they're not in school.

They do play with friends after school but I didn't include that because it is not evey day or every week.

I have kids over here about 2 or 3 times a week (sometimes more. They are 10...and pretty much "drop-in"). It is fun, but tiring for me.

One of my children has 1 after school activity per week - I think evening are family time, and precious, so i am not inclined to do "outside activities" at that time. I think many children are overscheduled.

My crew are in sports, so we have practices/games during the week. My five year old has one practice during M-F and one game a week. My nine and eleven year olds have two practices/one game a week or sometimes two games/one practice. My ten year old isn't in sports right now, but she has one practice/one game per week when she is in sports. She does have Juniors (Brownies) twice a month for meetings and once/twice a month on Saturday for activities.

Okay, so like, my kid goes to preschool (which he JUST started last week) 3 days a week for 2 hours. On days that he doesn't have school, we either have some sort of therapy or a play date, or at least get out of the house and go to a park to play.

Unscheduled:
*trips to the library at least once a week
*at least one other play date, usually in Thursdays
*trip to the playground to meet up w/ an "unofficial" playgroup at least once every other week.

I voted 5+, but I have four kids, so of course we'll be doing more outside activities than someone with one child. We usually have something planned or scheduled for every morning and afternoon during the week and usually at least one thing on the weekend. We like to be busy!

We homeschool, but I like to say that it's more like on-the-go-school.

My DD is in an afterschool program ran by our County's Parks & Rec Dept 3 days a week. I would consider those playdates as she has friends that go also and they do fun activities like minature golf and go to the pool some wednesdays. She also likes to have a play date whenever possible so we can do 2 of those on the days I am home with her and weekends. She is a very very social kid!

Unscheduled activities:
play after school w/friends on a spontaneous basis.
pick-up soccer on Friday afternoons. although it's on a set day, the girls decide after school on friday if they want to go, so it's really an open thing for us. we go when the girls are in the mood.

Scheduled playdates don't happen too often w/us. Since we often play after school w/whoever is around, and often many of their friends play for awhile after school, they don't feel a pressing need to have set playdates, since the playtime is kind of like a playdate.

thanks for the feedback. it helps to ounce things off of somebody sometimes.

our neighborhood has some kids in it, but it's a curvy hilly neighborhood so the kids don't walk to each other houses like i did when i was a kid so we don't have too many neighborhood playdates. we have a few, though, and i'd like to do more of those. wish the perfect 6 yr old girl playmate would move in to be pals with my dd1, though. right now we've got 7/8 and 9 yr olds and 4.5, and 2 yr olds, but i'm not aware of any 6 yr olds... dd1 really likes the 7/8 (not sure if she's 7 or 8 now) and her 9 yr old big sister and she enjoyed a playdate with a 4.5 yr old recently, too.

Mama to two girl beans, Feb 2001 and Nov 2003 . DH , and two crazy . Running on biodiesel since 2004!"All you fascists are bound to lose" — Woody Guthrie

Right now DS has tee-ball practice twice a week. When games start up later this month, he will have practice once a week and one game a week. We also usually have friends come over with their kids at least once a week. After tee-ball is over, DS wants to go back to doing tae kwon do, which is also twice a week. I think twice a week is perfect, because you don't feel like you're constantly running the roads/never home, but there's still plenty of interaction with other kids.

Our schedule varies somewhat due to sports seasons. My 7 YO DS currently has baseball games twice a week, plus a weekly tennis lesson. That means that playdates are few and far between since all of the free time is taken up by baseball. He has 30-60 minutes of homework each day, so we try to limit outside activities somewhat. The rule for our house is 2 sports or other activities at a time, and only 1 can be intense (like baseball).

4 YO DD has gymnastics and ballet class, 1/wk each. Since she goes to preschool 4 days a week, I don't find a need for too many pure playdates.

We try not to schedule too many friend-oriented things on weekends because that is our family time. We also do church on Sunday, so that impacts the schedule as well.

My oldest is 6 and in kindergarten. She also has swim lessons once a week, and dance class once a week. Sadly, we really don't have many actual playdates, as she sees most of her friends at school every day. Every once in a while she sees a neighbor, though.

My second is in a few classes, too. So, there are two days a week, I feel like I'm constantly going. I know it will only get busier, especially when the third starts activities!

Ds (4.5) is in preschool 3x a week. We do story time at the library on an off-school day. He sees his friend there and we stay and play in the library after, so I count it as a playdate.
Occasionally one of the mom's at his school will invite us over for a playdate, but not every week, so I voted 1 a week.

DS is 5 1/2 and usually has 1-2 playdates per week, soccer practice one night, and soccer game on Sat. I voted 3, but I guess really it's more like 4 or 5 if you count weekends. I don't feel overwhelmed as long as I have a day off inbetween. I go crazy when I have 2 busy nights in a row, so we have just stuck to soccer for now. Depending on who the playdate is with, he/she can actually make my life easier by entertaining my 5 yr old. One of his friends is a nightmare though!

I voted 3. But I am a SAHM and my boys are not in any school (yet...ds1 starts K in fall). Some weeks it could be more than this and some less, but I try to get in some playdates for my own sanity. The only structured activity is ds1 t-ball, other than that we just meet up with friends at their house, the park, or the pool.

We've always, until recently, lived very close to grandparents and my siblings, so the kids did family things together. Now that we've relocated, they go to one sport per season each. So it's 2 practices and 1 game per week. I don't count driver's ed for my oldest ds because it's temporary ...

dd has 2-3 organized stuff a week (usually swimming, tumbling, and Girl Scouts - I'm the leader so dd does more than the average scout).
We're in an apartment complex and dd usually has a neighbour over daily (not sure if that counts as a "playdate"?

None. Our children can do extra activities during the summer months but not during school. That's just too hard on the whole family. I want them at home after they've been in school all day long and on weekends my husband and I like to do things with them together as a family. We are a close family. We couldn't be as close as we are if they had to play a sport all day long on a weekendor practice several nights per week, plus it would just be too much on them with homework and all.

DD1 is in her school's soccer team, and she practices everyday after school so we pick her up at 2:30 instead of 1:00, she has around 3 games a month.
And gymnastics twice a week for an hour and father and daughter swimming lessons Sunday morning.
And well, basically our neighbour's daughter lives here, she spends all the time here so I will consider that a playdate, she's 5 going on 6

DD2 has gymnastics twice a week, and she practices soccer(she wants to be in the soccer team as well) with DH(oh so cute lol) twice a week.
She's 3 going on 4

I think that's selfish as well, I mean, my DD's will get bored without their activities.+

Once a week max. Our afternoons/evenings are already full with homework, playing with siblings, chores, dinner, relaxing together. An evening not at home is a big disruption during the school week. But we have 50/50 custody of dsd, and she does do occasional other activities on days she's with her mom. Most of her activities have been somewhat short-term, so she's able to do several during the year w/o overlapping (dance, brownies, volleyball league).
We rarely do play"dates" after school, but if she has time she is free to go play with neighborhood friends.